Make It Understood
by somewhereinthedreams
Summary: Pike fluff. Set somewhere after Season 3: Episode 12, Dog Catches Car


**A/N: Crazy that Season 3 ended tonight! I decided to post this immediately after the finale because I had a feeling we could all use a little fluff. Still trying to wrap my head around the finale, there were high and low points, along with some heartbreaking moments. Now we just sit here and wait for #GLSeasonFour**

 **Thanks to everyone that reads/reviews/messages me about my fics - I do read all your comments and am always curious what you think.**

* * *

"All those carnival games are rigged, you know that, right?" Mike asked. His hand was on the small of Paige's back as they trekked upstairs.

Paige rolled her eyes, of course Mike would say that. She reached down to grab a stuffed animal that slipped out of her arms. Mike had offered to help carry her bounty upstairs, but she stubbornly refused, not wanting to give him a chance to swipe one of her stuffed animals. She saw the way he was eyeing her Nemo, but Mike was not getting his hands on him. "You didn't think they were rigged when you won this," Paige reminded him, motioning towards the giant stuffed penguin safely tucked under her arm.

"Maybe not all the games are rigged," Mike conceded, opening her bedroom door.

 _Paige nudged Mike's arm when a little kid picked up the water pistol next to him. As competitive as they both were, they weren't going to beat a little kid. "I'll sit this one out."_

 _Mike slipped his arm around her, "Tell me what toy you want."_

 _Paige motioned to the largest toy in the booth, "I want the turtle."_

 _Mike brushed his lips over her ear, "The turtle, huh?"_

 _Paige nodded, "You gonna win it for me?" It wasn't that she couldn't hold her own on the shooting range, but Mike was the best shot in the house. Everyone knew that. "Think you can take out all those ducks like you did the bears?"_

She dumped her prizes on the desk chair and held up a stuffed turtle larger than the penguin. "Hmm, just the ones where I won bigger prizes?" Paige teased. She took a few moments to place the smaller animals in front of the larger ones, making sure to set Nemo right in front so he wouldn't be buried or _lost_ and find his way into Mike's room. Although she wasn't sure how Mike could hide Nemo from her considering his room was next to hers, but still - she wasn't going to take any chances. She ran her fingers over Nemo's stripes for a few seconds before turning to face Mike.

Paige appreciatively swept her eyes over Mike as he leaned in the door frame. They had been out in the sun all day, and he had gotten a little color. His normally perfect hair was a little disheveled from the long day, but she liked it messy. It reminded her of his bedhead, not that she seen it recently. It had been far too long since they had been together.

Considering how well things had gone on their date today, she thought Mike would be all over her once they got home. But the opposite seemed true. He seemed a little shy around her now that they were home. This wasn't like when they began and they were hiding what they were. Although, she wasn't really sure what they were.

Paige didn't need a label. She didn't have to define what they meant to each other. As long as they understood what they meant to each other, that was all that mattered.

But Mike was acting like a teenager that brought her home from a school dance and was worried about her dad catching them kissing on the porch. It was completely opposite of how he had acted around her earlier when they were at Disneyland. Their day had been filled with countless kisses, secret smiles and private jokes. Hell, they even held hands in public for the first time. Mike even managed to drag her into a photo booth, and they took at least three strips of photos and not a single one had them smiling at the camera because they were too caught up in each other. She had a feeling that the camera would've caught them doing something they probably shouldn't have been doing in a photo booth had it not been for the crying children just outside the curtain.

Everything that happened with Sid and at Sylmar was finally behind them. The Sarkissian case provided them a distraction from their personal drama and allowed them to find a way to start working together and repairing their fractured trust.

Saying they still had feelings for each other was an understatement, but they couldn't pick things back up where they left off. She wasn't even sure where they left off. After they stopped sleeping together, their feelings didn't disappear. After what she told Sid, that should've been the end of them. But Mike miraculously found some way to forgive her and save her from herself when she didn't think she needed saving.

Oddly, it was his drug addiction that started bringing them closer. It gave her an opportunity to support him and show him how much she still cared about him. Then everything came to a head with the Sarin gas and they were investigating Briggs just like they had been the summer before. Briggs managed to avoid jail time, but he was in danger of losing his badge. Paige shook her head, not wanting to think about what happened to the other agent. Today wasn't about Briggs, it was about them.

Today officially marked their first date, despite breaking up months earlier.

" _You busy today?" Mike asked, leaning against the kitchen counter, shoveling cold cereal into his mouth._

 _Paige wrinkled her nose at him and grabbed an orange. "No, I'm between cases. I have a meeting downtown tomorrow, but today I'm free. Why, what's going on? Do you already have a new case? Anything I can help with?"_

" _Not yet. I have a few leads, but I'm going to hold off until tomorrow before I start something."_

" _I think Johnny's out on the water. I know you just finished your run, but do you want to go surfing?"_

" _No."_

" _Oh," Paige said, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. She was hoping they could spend some time together today. Surfing with Johnny gave them a buffer in case things got awkward between them. But maybe she had misreading the signals from Mike. Maybe he hadn't been sending signals._

" _I've got something better in mind." Mike leaned towards her and lowered his voice as if he was sharing a big secret. "Disneyland."_

" _Disneyland?"_

" _Last summer you mentioned us going, but the timing didn't work out."_

 _Paige arched an eyebrow at him. Saying the timing didn't work out was an understatement. They had been in the middle of trying to track down the tape that served as a witness to Briggs accidentally killing Juan Badillo. The same tape that led to Briggs creating this phantom Sarin gas case and all the fallout from the Sarkissian case. "I'll say."_

" _All that's over now. I know..." Mike's voice trailed off for a few seconds and he put his empty bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. "Look, we never - you and - okay, do you want to go to Disneyland with me today?"_

 _He looked adorable. Nervous. He reminded her of the rookie he had been last summer. A little unsure. Flustered. She resisted the urge to tease him, because the same could be said about her. They were both afraid to take that first step they had been skirting around for weeks. "Are you asking me on a date?" Paige asked, taking a step closer to Mike. She playfully bumped her hip against his so he would know she wasn't teasing him. Well, maybe just a little._

 _Mike met her eyes and nodded, "I think we're long overdue for that trip to Disneyland."_

 _Paige nodded, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. She hated that sometimes he made her feel like she was a teenager with a crush without even trying. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I think you're right."_

"You gonna stand there all night?" Paige asked, moving to stand in front of him. She reached for his hand and laced their fingers together. Mike looked down at their hands and smiled. Paige tilted her head inside the room. "I don't bite. Well, unless you want me too."

"I just..." Mike let out a frustrated sigh and ran his other hand through his hair. "I don't want to mess things up this time around."

"I'm supposed to be the one that worries about that, because I'm the one that messed things up." Paige met his eyes briefly before looking at the floor.

Mike ran his hands up and down her arms as he shook his head. "Don't say that, we both made mistakes, okay? We're going to make mistakes this time. But we just need to be honest with each other." Mike gestured towards the hall, "Whatever's going on out there, we can't let that interfere with us. I trust _you_."

Paige nodded, pushing away all her doubts and insecurities. In the back of her mind she was sure she would ruin him, but if he could believe, then so could she. They could do things right this time. That started with honesty, she knew that. They couldn't let the house drama spill over onto their relationship. "On one condition."

"What?"

"Just admit that I'm a better shooter than you. Maybe I wasn't top of my class, but I was in the top 5 percentile. And I don't do those hand exercises that you do, but I can hold my own." Paige motioned behind her to the prizes she won and smirked, "Mine is bigger."

"Bigger, huh?" Mike asked, backing her into her room and kicking the door shut behind them. "You sure about that?" Paige laughed as he picked her up and playfully tossed her on the bed.

Paige looked up at Mike. It was as if she was seeing him for the first time. Seeing him with new eyes. He wasn't just some guy she met that she fell into a relationship with because it was convenient. Mike snuck his way into her heart. For the longest time she tried ignoring it. What she did should've destroyed them, but here he was. By her side. Right where he belonged.

As if sensing the change in mood, Mike tenderly stroked her cheek as he leaned over her. He lowered his lips to hers, slowly kissing her.

Paige rested her hand over his chest, feeling his heartbeat as his lips lingered over hers. Her own heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest, but the steady beating of his grounded her. "Thank you," Paige murmured against his lips.

"For what?"

"Today. We both needed this, not just for _us_ , but just a day to not deal with everything." Their jobs were stressful and they couldn't always escape the house dynamics, but they deserved a day where they didn't have to deal with anyone's problems, not even their own.

"This isn't a one time thing, you know that, right?"

Paige looked up to meet his gaze and saw the insecurity flash through his eyes. It took almost losing him twice and facing her own demise for her to realize how much he meant to her. She wasn't giving him up that easily. "You're stuck with me."

THE END


End file.
